AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli hailed the San Siro crowd after their 4-1 rout of Cagliari.

Sandro Tonali, Rafael Leao and a double from Olivier Giroud produced the goals for Milan.

“This warmth and enthusiasm made us emotional, we did well to use that passion as fuel, playing with verve and pace. It's true, perhaps the team can't hear my instructions as well in this noise, but they know what they're doing!" the coach told DAZN.

"The day we started pre-season training, I saw that Tonali, Leao and Rade Krunic were more mature, more ready for this challenge. They learned from last season, worked really hard and have come forward in leaps and bounds."

He added: "We've got a remarkable run of games coming up after the break for international duty, including Liverpool, Juventus and Atalanta, so we need to keep this mentality and enthusiasm.

“If we really want a positive future, we must treat everyone as first choice players. We're missing some at the moment, a couple more might arrive, but we must train the way we want to play and play the way we train.

“The Champions League group is very tough, as we have an opponent that won the trophy two years ago, another that won La Liga and Porto who eliminated Juventus last season. We must see this as an opportunity to be grabbed with both hands and enjoyed.

“We are getting used to playing entertaining football and enjoying ourselves, but we must also remember that the great teams are also capable of winning ugly."